Thursday, April 15, 2010

Chicanery: English language Vocab. word of the week Saw the film Magnolia


Synonyms:
artifice, cheating, chicane, deviousness, dishonesty, dodge, double-crossing, double-dealing, duplicity, feint, fourberie, fraud, furtiveness, gambit, hanky-panky, intrigue, machination, maneuver, plot, ploy, ruse, sharp practice, skullduggery, sophistry, stratagem, subterfuge, surreptitiousness, underhandedness, wiles
Notes: duplicity implies double-dealing while chicanery suggests trickery and wiliness
Antonyms:
forthrightness, honesty, truthfulness



I thought of this word while watching Magnolia d. PT Anderson. The Tom Cruise character Frank TJ Mackay has a plant in his audience of men attending his "workshop." Later in the film we see that the man who asked the question and garnered Frank Mackey 's empathy is an employee of his. I think we could say there was some chicanery involved in his tactics to help these men "Command the cock and Conquer the cunt." If you have seen Magnolia this will make sense. It is definitely a film to watch more than once. But I want to get on to Before the Devil Knows You are Dead as promised. I am trying to see all PSH films. Well not all, but many of them. He had a role in this ensemble piece. He is always believable and he was in this film as well. I will someday transcribe my notes on Magnolia, or ask the questions I want to ask, or see it again!!!

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